Welcome to another edition of our newsletter, this week we recap on a snow filled competition, we spot something unusual in the studio, we talk pitching, and we invite you to our wedge workshop. Enjoy the read!
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Carl Tindall Bowl What a fantastic display of team spirit by everyone in the Club Team v Scratch Team on Saturday in freakish weather, playing for the Carl Tindall Bowl in his memory. We teed off on the 3rd and couldn’t see the green for horizontal snow, then played the 4th in sunshine, played shots to the 5th green in snow with zero visibility and putted out on the same hole with clear grass and warm sun!! It was a great format and great fun for such a testing day and after all, Carl would have loved to have been there playing. Good luck to Alan Birch and the scratch team this year and as instructed, ‘play hard and party hard’. |
Snow doesn’t stop studio play The Staffordshire PGA winter alliance was called off due to snow at Little Aston this week so myself, Luke and Mike played 18 holes on the QUAD simulator instead. The realism is superb and whilst warming up off the back tee, we noticed this golf buggy submerged in the lake! Obviously I’m too much of a gentleman to say who won. Luke and Mike had the last laugh recently though as Luke came 3rd in the team event in the Pro-Am at Whittington last Thursday. Mike along with Roger Howarth, Paul Matthews and Will Hall won the team event and he also won the individual event - his first professional win, with a 2 under par score. On the same day Mike received his results from his latest PGA training assignment and he was awarded a mark of 93%. The average score is 53% and 30% classes as a pass. Congratulations to both of you and well done Mike for an outstanding assignment grade.
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Pitching on the simulator
Each week I’ve noticed something from the simulator play that you can learn from and this week it’s to do with pitching. As pros, we’re used to ascertaining distances, even for short shots so we have a good idea of the difference in feel from a 25 yard shot, to say a 35 yard shot. Most amateurs don’t seem to recognise shorter distances so well. I’ve seen golfers fly a wedge 60 yards straight over a green on the Sim when they’re only 25 yards away from the hole. I make a point now of showing them that the Sim studio is 20 yards long, so a 25 yard pitch is only slightly longer than the room. Ironically, they still fly the first greenside shot over the back.
It’s been suggested that the Quad over-reads wedge distances, so we took it outside and played shots in the walled garden off the same surface as indoors and paced out the yardages. No matter whether we nip the ball perfectly or hit heavy shots to reduce the spin on purpose, the carry distances were identical between the QUAD and reality.
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The phenomenon of over-hitting wedges, even with good strikes, isn’t just restricted to simulators. Almost every time I give a pitching lesson in the walled garden, the first couple of shots fly into the wall behind the green, similarly when I ask a pupil to loosen up with a 50 yard wedge over the brook off the practice tee - they usually fly 90 yards initially. If you’re a pretty good hitter of the ball and you want to knock shots off your game, I would suggest spending time practicing hitting different yardages with different wedges. To get a good feel for it you need to have a wide bottom to your swing, where the club passes the ball, which is a requirement for good wedge play.
Indoors, my standard warm up is to select a flat green, set myself up 60 yards away or 85 yards away and keep hitting shots trying to hole out. It’s amazing how consistent you can get with the same ball, a perfect lie and great feedback. Here’s a picture of a wedge that’s been used a heck of a lot successfully - Paul Broadhurst’s famous Wilson wedge that has more than earned it’s place in a golf club hall of fame.
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Wedge Workshop - Next Wednesday If you want to get better at your wedges, I am hosting my first group seminar this coming Wednesday 28th March. The cost is just £20 per person with a maximum of 4 people in the group. You’ll learn lots including: - Wedge technique essentials - When to use which club - Distance judgement - How to use the bounce Click here if you’d like to book one of the places, don’t worry if you think the places will get filled up fast - I’ll be adding more dates. If you’re not a pretty consistent hitter of the ball, that would be your first priority to improve. There’s things at this game that you do need to be good and things that you don’t. For example, you DON'T have to hit the ball on a straight flight but you DO have to be able to get out of bunkers. You DON’T have to be able to hit a driver but you DO need to be able to judge the speed of a putt.
Look out for a full calendar this year of indoor and outdoor seminars on all aspects of the game. Similarly our Junior Academy will be starting straight after Easter - click here if you’d like details or pop into the shop.
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Free balls, anyone? We know it's one of your favourite promotions so we're delighted to tell you that it's back! Whether you want to stock up on balls for the season ahead or simply want one dozen free, now is the perfect time to get yourself sorted as we're offering you four dozen for the price of three on personalised Titleist Pro V1 and Pro V1x golf balls. |
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If you’ve been in the pro shop recently you’ll have seen lots of new products displayed proudly around the store, many of which are new for 2018. One that’s generated quite a bit of interest is Skechers' GO GOLF Pro V.3 golf shoe, so we thought we'd take a closer look at it in this week's newsletter. |
 | | Skechers GO GOLF Pro V.3 golf shoe | When considering a new pair of golf shoes there are three main factors to consider: comfort, performance and the shoe's outsole. The Pro V.3 by Skechers boasts some of the lightest and most responsive cushioning we've ever witnessed in a golf shoe, producing cloud-like comfort on every step you take. The fact that Matt Kuchar trusts this shoe enough to wear on tour says all you need to know regarding its performance, whilst the cleated outsole provides fantastic traction no matter the weather. |
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